151 booked for malpractice on Day 1 of HSC exam

Cuttack: A total of 151 candidates were booked for malpractice on the first day of the annual High School Certificate (HSC) examinations that was held across 2,882 centers in the State on Monday.

Over six lakh students are appearing for the Matriculation exams scheduled to be held from 9 am to 11.40 am, barring the Mathematics subject which will have 15 minutes of extra time and end at 11.55 am. The exams will conclude on March 4.

School and Mass Education minister Debi Prasad Mishra said, “Our department is monitoring the exam and the administration is cooperating with us completely.”

“We have initiated the process of digitisation and are trying to get ISO status for the board and improve the quality.” he added.

Mishra visited some schools as well as the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) office to review the arrangements for the conduct of the examination.

“We have created squads at all places for smooth conduct of examinations and the district administrations have also engaged supervisors for the same. Even the BDOs and Tehsildars have also been included in the teams overseeing the examinations. The administration is keeping a tab on the proceedings here at the control room. We have made special arrangements in Maoist-infested areas and police patrolling is being done. The concerned district administration has been given the responsibility to monitor the situation. Moreover, senior police officials have also spoken to the concerned collectors and SPs in this regard,” the minister said

This year, the board has sent 25 additional OMR sheets to each centre. Apart from this, 300 additional sheets are kept at each nodal centre.

On the possibility of shortage of question papers, the BSE president DP Nanda had said on Sunday the board has instructed the centre superintendents to immediately check the label on the question paper packets mentioning the total number of question papers allotted to the centre. If they feel that there is shortage of question papers, they should immediate inform the DEO, the nodal officer or the Board headquarters.

“I hope there would be no shortage of question papers as the Board has kept additional question papers in the district nodal centres,” Nanda had said.